Masked Demons
by Minoru Black
Summary: Gintoki received a mask from an unknown sender. Who had done this? And why does he feels a bad vibe when he touched the mask. Is he the only one?
1. Chapter 1

Gintama belongs to Sorachi.

Prologue

Once upon a time, in a land where samurai rules, there was once a ruler who greed surpasses a normal man's greed. He wanted everything that the land could offer. He didn't care about the people he rules over and only concentrating on adding his wealth, even though many children lost their parents or died because of poor or starvation. Even his family hates him for what he had become. He would shed blood and start a war if push turns to shove. He named the land he ruled as Edo.

One day, an old priest from the east came to his castle. At first, the ruler didn't allow the priest to enter as he was dressed badly. But the priest didn't give up. So, he silently slips into the ruler castle. The ruler was first surprised but he quickly ordered the guard to execute him. AT the day of the priest execution, the ruler asked the priest if he have any last words. The priest nodded.

"Ruler of Edo! A terrible misfortune will fell upon you and the land of Edo, for the sin you have commit. Warriors from far away land will come to not only release this country from your evil clutches, but to avenge the death of love ones by sheading your blood on this forsaken land. Mark my words, whatever you do will only be futile!"

The priest suddenly began to cough blood and to the ruler and guards surprised, the priest died without being executed but blood loss. The selfish ruler began to feel terrified. He was afraid. He recalled what the priest had said and made up his mind. He decided to go to a forest called 'Akuma Forest' where they lived a powerful shaman. He told his guards to keep his location as a secret.

The ruler told the shaman everything he knows and was surprised when the shaman laughed. He said to the ruler,  
"If anything you do is futile, it is because you only have human. But what if you have demon to assist you?" he leers at the ruler and slowly the ruler began to smile.  
"What do you purpose we should do, shaman?" he asked, curios to what the shaman wanted to do.

The shaman asked the ruler to stay for a few days to create a perfect weapon for him. The ruler agrees and left, promising to come next week. The shaman creates five oni masks and laid it on the floor. He began to chants some words that if heard by a normal human, it will all be gibberish. Suddenly the masked glowed and the masks began to change their appearance, each with different colour and shapes. The shaman smiles and brought a satchels that had turn red. Inside the satchel was five child hearts that has been ripped out of their body. And standing in front of the shaman was five shadows of the most dangerous demon in Japan. The shadow suddenly disappeared, leaving each masks with different initial and when the satchel was opened, the children hearts were gone. The shaman smirked and began to laugh evilly, his laugh echoing in the forbidden forest and inflicting terror in every animal who heard the laugh.

The ruler returned to the shaman and was surprised to see five yokai masks on the floor. The shaman didn't give him any explanation, just instruction. The ruler paid with thousands of gold and left with the masks. The ruler called out five of his strongest warrior and performed a ritual where he has to sacrifice five innocent children was taken from their family and killed for this selfish ritual. The villagers were angered by the selfish ruler's doing, families crying out for their children and revenge was plotted towards the ruler. A revolution was starting to overthrown the evil ruler.

At the ruler's castle, five of his warrior formed a circle with the sacrifices being in the middle. Among of the five warriors chosen, only one was sicken by the sight. He almost tried to run away and join the revolution if not for the others. The ruler began to chant the same words that had been chanted by the shaman. The warriors began to scream, pain streaming inside their veins and blood from the sacrifices moved from their bodies into the warrior bodies before all of the warriors began to pass out, one by one.

By the time the ritual had finished, an army has already been formed, leaded by one of the noblest samurai who had once been a father to one of the children who died because of the selfish ruler. When the castle's gate were tore down, five warriors stand in front of the army, wearing different masks of demons and with that, blood began to shed.

The war was vicious, blood stained on the ground and the castle. An army of hundreds of men were killed by five warriors in one night. The warriors had fought like demons and killed everybody to quench their renewed thirst of blood. Dead bodies began to pile up as time pass and there were almost no survivor left, except for one. The noble samurai fled from the war but not with his help, but by one of demons.

When the army had been defeated, the warriors began to go wild. They began to attack the castle and killed all the guards and the ruler's family. The ruler was frightened. He tried to flee but when he got out of the castle ground, he was stabbed from the back by no one other than the noble samurai. The noble samurai quickly hide after killing the ruler and with his own eyes, he saw the warriors began to kill each other. One by one the warriors fight and only one left standing among the blood of his comrades.

The demon that was standing there with his sword glinting in the middle of the blood field was alone. This was the demon that had saved the noble samurai death. The samurai asked the demon.  
"Why did you let me live?" The demon was silent for awhile before he picked one mask among the four. He kissed the mask, mask against mask, before collecting all the masks and giving it to the noble samurai.

'Hide these masks from falling into the wrong hands. All of these masks must be kept a secret, including mine. Please hide these.'

The demon had surprisingly stabbed itself right at the heart but no howl of pain was heard. The demon had died.

The noble samurai heed the demon's words and hide the evil masks that had cause many deaths of the land. He began to build the land and restart a new era for the land named Edo. But, legends says that the masks he hid still exist even after thousands of years had passed, never aging and looks brand new. Whoever posses the masks will have the strength of five of the most powerful demons known to man. But they should remember…

"… that demons cannot be controlled easily, even with the help of the strongest omniyoji could help you. They will kill until the master that has trapped them died. "said the old man.

"…." Everyone who had gathered around the old storyteller was astonished but scared. The story wasn't any fairytale nor the truth. It was just a legend, maybe a made up one from a guy who wanted to pass the time. Anyway, the yorozuya had been listening to the story behind the crowds. They were also amazed by the story itself.

The walk on their way back home was silent. All the yorozuya were thinking about the story.  
"Gin-chan, is the story real,aru?" Kagura asked. Gintoki was silent for a while before he shrugged.

"I don't know. The way he told it, it must have been ages ago. Maybe even before the great Gin-san was born. But as they say, it was just a legend Kagura."

"But, Gin-san. He told it as if it had happened. What if it's true?" Shinpachi asked Gintoki.

"Oi,oi! Cut me some slacks. If Gin-san has to go through demons again, he's gonna blow. Let's just forget the story and move own. Masks? What masks? I haven't heard about a mask before. I only seen masks like Ka**** Kid wear. That's more like it." He ranted.

"Excuse me, Gin-san. But you just become pathetic again. Ah, we're home." They were about to go up the stairs when suddenly, Otose called them.  
"Wait a sec, you freelancer. Where's the rent pay for this month?" she said.

"What? Rent? We had to pay rent? Are you a yakuza or something?"

"Do you want me to kill you or something? Don't play dumb, you lazy head perm of a bastard." She said.

"Oi,oi! It's not my fault that I had a perm hair. I wanted to have a straight hair but life's doesn't let me."

"Whose talking about your perm, you idiot!" Otose sighed before she continued talking.

"Enough. Before I forget, there was a package sent by a mysterious man for you. I've putted it on your desk so it won't go missing. I'll be leaving now." She said before she left the yorozuya alone.

"Thank you, Otose-san. Well, let's go check the package." Said Shinpachi.

They went inside the apartment and saw the package was indeed on Gintoki's desk. Gintoki picked up the package to find the address only to see, only his name on the box.

"For me?" he said more to himself.

"What are you waiting for? Open it!" said Kagura anxiously.

Gintoki rip the paper covering the package and was surprised to see…

A demon mask…

End of chapter 1.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1: There's always a surprise in every box, even if it's open!

'Nani? Is this a mask? Can't be. I must be dreaming right now. That couldn't be. I really must be dreaming.' Gintoki pinched himself.

'It hurts. It really does. Then, maybe I'm awake. Nahh~ I must be dreaming. This can't be a mask. It must be my figment of imagination. It must be.' He pinched himself again until his arm began to bleed.

'Why is my arm bleeding? Ah! It must be the tomato juice! Yes!" he licked some of the blood from his fingers.

'It tastes like rust… It's real blood. Then, maybe I should kill mys-'  
"WHAT THE HELL!? STOP TRYING TO KILL YOURSELF, OLD MAN! YOU'RE IN DENIAL! DENIAL! STOP THAT!" Shinpachi kicked him squarely at his head, causing Gintoki to fell forward and hit his face directly on the mask in the box. HARD. He stayed like that for a while and before anybody could see it, he kicked Shinpachi right at the guts!

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR, YOU USELESS MEGANE! I TOLD ALL OF YOU! NOT AT THE FACE! LOOK WHAT YOU HAVE DONE NOW!" Gintoki nose was broken and there is blood dripping from his nose and forehead since the mask have small, sharp horns attached to it. There was many traces blood on the mask, especially on the mask eyes and horns. Both megan and silver perm was fighting loudly and Kagura was loudly cheering that they didn't realized that the mask's eyes just flashed red for a minute before returning to normal color. A sudden wind blew into the office suddenly causing a paper from the box to flutter out of the box. Kagura noted the fallen paper and went to pick it up.

"YOU ARE DISGRACE TO ALL MAIN CHARACTER ROLL! YOU SHOULD REALLY LEARN TO BECOME MORE RESPONSIBLE, GIN-SAN!"

"I'M PERFECT AS MYSELF MORON! PEOPLE SAID THAT IF YOU ACCEPT AND LOVE YOURSELF, THEN YOU ARE MORE PERFECT THAT ANYBODY WHO WHERE'S GLASSES EVERYDAY!"

"WHO THE HELL TALK- AAARRRGGHHH!" "Shut up, Shinpachi. Gin-chan, there's a letter inside. Don't know who it's from, aru. But has your name on it, aru."

"My name, you say?" Gintoki reached the letter in Kagura's hand and read it while Kagura kept poking Shinpachi battered form.

The letter said;

'_Dear sir or madam, _

_We are from the MY KID'S FAVOURITE shop and we like to congratulate you on being one of the lucky draw winner. You are our third winner and have received a mask demon wall decoration for you emotional teenage son. Please remember. IT IS NOT CURSE. We hope you enjoy it and also your emotional son. Hope you become a better parent._

_Sincerely,_

_The manager of MY KID's FAVOURITE SHOP's MANAGER._

Everybody was quiet until Gintoki sighed with relief. He calmly close the paper and sat on the sofa.

"Darn~ I really thought it was a demon mask but it's just a wall decoration. It even has 'Nurarihyon' too!How lame." He said while picking his nose.

"But you're the one who almost peed in his pants when you saw the mask." Shinpachi said.

"Oi, Kagura! Take the mask and hang it in your cupboard. You're the emotional kid I know and it's a perfect way to decorate that small, horrible room you have." He said.

"No way, old man! You think I can sleep in that stuffy room if another thing is added. And I'm a lady! Not an emotional son or a kid. Put it somewhere else, aru." She said, sitting next to Gintoki on the sofa and picking her nose as well.

"Eh? Then where should I put it? I don't need it and I'm not a kid or emotional. My lazy red eyes says so." He said while rubbing his hand that had picked his nose on Kagura's head.

"Put it in your room or something, aru. It's like somebody is watching over you stupid butt. Like an angel, aru." She said while rubbing hers on Gintoki's kimono.

"What!? No way in hell. Not an angel looking over me but a demon. I prefer Ketsuno Ana the one looking over me, you idiot." He said.

'Both of you are downright disgusting. I should find another job than this.' Shinpachi thought.  
"But isn't it weird, you guys? I don't think we ever went to that shop before. Have you ever heard of a shop like that?" he asked.

"Nah~ Details, details. Just hang it outside the apartment and forget about it." Gintoki said lazily.

"Do you want our customer to run away? Do you want to be broke forever? Are you even aware what you just said?" Shinpachi said irritably and sighed with fatigue.

"I'll just hang it in your room Gin-san. If we hang it in the office, it will scare the customer away." He said while bringing the massk into Gintoki's room.

"Wait, wait, wait! Don't hang it there! What if I can't sleep? Do you want your boss to fell asleep when doing his job? Do you?" Gintoki said hurriedly.

"Well, if you put it that way, then I'll keep it in one of the other cupboard." Shinpachi suddenly realized that amidst of the fight, a growling Sadaharu was never heard. Sadaharu was completely growling and glaring at him. He didn't know what he had done today so for now, he ignore Sadaharu and kept the mask, with the mask's box, into another cupboard where Gin-san keeps his clothes. Suddenly, Sadaharu stopped growling and went back to his normal self. Shinpachi looked at Gintoki and Kagura if they realize Sadaharu's odd behavior. They didn't. They were busy picking their nose and rubbed it on each other.

He sighed and closed the cupboard, not noticing the mask began to glow again for a brief minute and stopped.

* * *

On other places…

LOCATION : SHINSENGUMI BARRACKS.

"Hijikata-san. There's a package for you and a package for me. I hope inside yours is a boom~" said Okita Sougo.

"Die, Sougo. I hope yours the on which contains the boom." Said Hijikata while he open his package.

"Hm, a mask?" he took out the mask and saw an initial on the mask. 'What does it means?'

"Yuki-Onna. It seems you got a snow woman mask. I'm happy for you Hijikata-san." He said while he covered his mouth.

"SHUT UP, YOU BASTARD! What did YOU get!?" he said with his nose flaring. The mask he holds has a good quality and if he were to drop it, it won't crack like ordinary masks do.

"Mine?" Okita said. He open his package and saw another different demon masks with an initial 'Kitsune'.

"Heh! Fits you perfectly, you dirty, slippery fox." Hijikata said while he lights a cigarette. Suddenly, a sword almost went past through his head if he hadn't dodged it. But his cheek got scratched and blood was dripping slowly from it. Unknown to Hijikata, some of the blood dropped on his mask initial, causing a soft glow that went unknown to both officers.

"Ah. I miss." Okita said while he held his sword with the mask on his face. His face was suddenly pushed up causing him to lose hold of his sword and unknown to Hijikata, bit his tongue.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, FUCKASS? CAN'T YOU SEE I'M TRYING TO SMOKE? STOP TRYING TO KILL ME, BASTARD!" Hijikata said. He briefly saw Sougo's mask glowed for a while must dismiss it as a trick of light.

"Ouch… I think I bit my tongue. Hijikata, you bastard. Die." Another fight has started with both officers not realizing what danger that they have gotten themselves into.

* * *

LOCATION : UNKNOWN

"Oi, Kamui. You got a package from a crazy shop here saying you're their third lucky winner. Want it?" said Abuto.

In a dust clearance where a heap of dead bodies lay, a young man sat on the bodies as if the bodies were merely a chair for him to sit on. He was licking blood of his hands and they weren't any wounds on him but a small cut on his thumb.

"Oi, that's disgusting. Look inside the box. It's a demon mask for a wall decoration. It's kind of cool though. Has an initial on it to. 'Oni'. Fitting for you, doesn't it?" Kamui smirked at the latter and took the mask from the box. He saw the red bold initial 'oni' on the mask and rubbed it with his thumb. He wore the mask and

"How do I look? Beautiful, isn't?" he said with a happy voice.

"Terrifying. Just the perfect look for you." Abuto smirked.

LOCATION : UNKNOWN BUT ON A GIGANTIC BOAT.

"Takasugi-sama, there's a package for you from a store with a weird name. I think is a perfect for you to decorate your room." Said Takechi.

"…Are you implying that I don't have any taste in decoration? Do you want to die?" Takasugi asked calmly.

"Of course not, Takasugi-sama! It's a demon mask that has a 'tengu' initial on it. They say that tengu is one of the most vengeful demons known throughout Japan." Takechi said.

"… A vengeful spirit you say…" Takasugi looked at the demon mask and saw the beautiful design of the tengu demon mask. He put it on and for a while, silence filled the room.

"Takasugi-sama?..." he asked. Takasugi's head rise and another eerie voice was heard, unlike Takasugi's own voice.

"I want to go to Edo. I want only two or three soldiers following me. No questions." He suddenly stand and went out of the room with the mask still on his face.

"Takasugi-sama?..." Takechi was left alone inside the room.

'What happened?'

* * *

End of Chapter 1.


End file.
